“Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan ‘you’re either with us or against us.’”
— From an op-ed column by Russia President Vladimir Putin

“We’ve got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis.”
— President Barack Obama, on a deal to reopen the government after a two-week shutdown

“I think you could use either word … retiring, resigning, I don’t know.”
— Texas Rangers CEO Nolan Ryan, announcing his departure from the baseball club

“I know we won’t please everybody, but I think future generations will love this Tex just as much as the one they lost.”
— Eddy Snell, whose company, SRO Associates, was hired by the State Fair of Texas to build a replacement for the Big Tex destroyed by fire last yearwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“The people of this city have been filled with a sense of industry born of tragedy — driven to improve the substance of Dallas, not just the image of it.”
— Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, at the commemoration, on how the city changed after the assassinationwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“Texas has waited too long for a governor who knows that quid pro quo shouldn’t be the status quo.”
— State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, announcing her candidacy for governor

“Our goal is to go and restore American Airlines to its position as the greatest airline in the world.”
— Doug Parker, CEO of the new American Airlines Group, to cheering workers after the company closed its merger with US Airwayswww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“It will be a cold day in Arizona when we defund Obamacare.”
— Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on the futility of Cruz’s effortwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“It’s time to change the Senate, before this institution becomes obsolete.”
— Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., after Democrats changed decades of tradition to limit filibusters on presidential appointments

“He helped me on and off the field. I’m devastated to hear the news that he’s retiring.”
— Rangers pitcher Derek Hollandwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“Heads of the Church have often been narcissists, flattered and thrilled by their courtiers. The court is the leprosy of the papacy.”
— Pope Francis, on the influence of Vatican functionarieswww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“If we continue down this path, we are really going to hurt the Republican Party long term.”
— Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on hard-line GOP tacticswww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“I would just say to all the experts gathered in one room: If it looks like an antenna, acts like an antenna, then guess what? It is an antenna.”
— Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, miffed that an architects’ panel added 1 World Trade Center’s spire to the height of the New York skyscraper, eclipsing Chicago’s Willis Tower as the tallest U.S. building

“For the fewer than 5 percent of Americans who buy insurance on your own, you will be getting a better deal.”
— President Barack Obama, on changes under the Affordable Care Act law

“I wish he was gone yesterday.”
— Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, slamming school Superintendent Mike Miles and the personnel changes he wants to makewww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“The biggest TV should be in Texas.”
— Jeff Bentley of Carrollton, longtime spectator at Texas Motor Speedway, on its plans for the world’s largest HD screenwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“He was not from Dallas or of Dallas, yet for years in the minds of many, it was somehow Dallas’ fault. It was not, and The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza has helped us understand that.”
— CBS newsman Bob Schieffer, who covered the JFK assassination in 1963, on blaming Dallas for Lee Harvey Oswald’s crimewww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“Given the testimony we have heard today, there is only one reasonable course of action: Mr. President, take down this website.”
— Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, after his House Science, Space and Technology Committee reviewed the security of HealthCare.govwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“As Churchill said, we will fight on the beaches, we will fight on the streets. We will fight at every step to stop the biggest job killer in America.”
— Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, vowing to block the Affordable Care Actwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“It’s incumbent on me to build a good relationship with each trustee.”
— DISD Superintendent Mike Miles, after surviving a board proposal to fire him

“It hit me like a ton of bricks.”
— Hall of Famer and former Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett, on news he was diagnosed with a degenerative brain condition linked to blows to the head

“I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.”
— Pope Francis, in a major statement tying together the goals of his papacy

“He looks Hispanic, and I actually thought that’s a good thing.”
— Early fairgoer Barbara York, sizing up the new Big Tex

“The rest of the world is watching. Half the world is deciding whether they want democracy or not.”
— Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, disappointed with political rancor in Washington’s budget and care negotiations

“What a fantastic gift God gave to us in this Mandela, who quickly became an icon, a global icon of forgiveness, of generosity of spirit.”
— Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to mourners after the death of South Africa’s Nelson Mandelawww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“It was a mistake.”
— Microsoft founder Bill Gates, revealing how control-alt-delete became the complicated sign-on/reboot computer functionwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“Cruz said he would deliver the votes, and he didn’t deliver any Democratic votes. He pushed House Republicans into traffic and wandered away.”
— Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist

“Don’t be so cute, and when you make a mistake, admit it.”
— New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, on how President Barack Obama should handle charges that he oversold the Affordable Care Actwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“The SEC tried to pull a fraud on America, and thankfully I live in a country where juries can decide these kinds of cases.”
— Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, after his acquittal from federal charges of insider trading

“You’ll regret this, and you may regret this a lot sooner than you think.”
— Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to Democrats voting to change filibuster ruleswww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“How much is that per minute?”
— Emer Duffy, billed $1,696 after her daughter’s cut forehead was treated with a bit of skin glue at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco

“I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me.”
— Obama, on people whose insurance policies have been canceled under the act

“I think if Trayvon had been white, this never would have happened.”
— Tracy Martin, father of slain Florida teen Trayvon Martinwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“If he felt threatened that his life was going to be taken away from him, or he was going to have bodily harm, he had a right.”
— Juror B37, on self-defense provisions in law that led the jury to acquit George Zimmerman in the Martin shooting

“George Zimmerman got away with murder, but you can’t get away from God.”
— Juror B29 from the jury that acquitted Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin slaying, saying the law prevented a guilty verdictwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“These runners just finished, and they don’t have legs now.”
— Rhode Island state trooper Roupen Bastajian, who was near one Boston Marathon bomb blast and helped treat victimswww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“That little boy will never come home again. It’s still unreal. I have no words. I have no words.”
— Dan Aguilar, neighbor of an 8-year-old boy, Martin Richard, who was killed by a Boston bombwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“This guy is evil. This is the real Boston bomber. Not someone fluffed and buffed for the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.”
— Massachusetts State Police photographer Sgt. Sean Murphy, on Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, after releasing crime photos to counterbalance the magazine’s glam-shot coverwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“New research and advanced technology give prematurely born children a renewed chance at life, which should give us all pause as we argue the definition of viability and consider the human impact of abortion.”
— Gov. Rick Perry, in signing a bill placing new restrictions on Texas abortionswww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“Shame!”
— Chant from protesters in the Capitol as Perry signed the legislation

“A birth, a boy, a prince, a king.”
— London newspaper headline announcing the child of Prince William and his wife, Kate

“My ruthless desire to win at all costs served me well on the bike, but the level it went to, for whatever reason, is a flaw. That desire, that attitude, that arrogance.”
— Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, in his confessional to Oprah Winfreywww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“In retrospect, I obviously should have been much more cautious.”
— Notre Dame football star Manti Te’o, in a statement about a highly publicized online relationship with a woman whose existence and purported tragic death turned out to be a hoax

“He’s either incredibly stupid, having a girlfriend you’ve never met for two years, or he was in on the hoax and the integrity that Notre Dame football purports to be is not at all.”
— Notre Dame freshman Peter Noell of Chicago, on the Te’o saga

“It is, from my perspective, less important today looking backward as to why these militants decided they did it than to find them and bring them to justice.”
— Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a Senate hearing on the violent deaths of four Americans at a Benghazi, Libya, mission in September

“Had I been president and found you did not read the cables from Benghazi and from Ambassador [Christopher] Stevens, I would have relieved you of your post.”
— Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., addressing Clintonwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“This is our first task as a society, keeping our children safe. This is how we will be judged. And their voices should compel us to change.”
— President Barack Obama, announcing a sweeping set of actions and proposals to cut gun violencewww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“Guns require a finger to pull the trigger. The sad young man who did that in Newtown was clearly haunted by demons, and no gun law could have saved the children in Sandy Hook Elementary from his terror.”
— Texas Gov. Rick Perry, in a response to the president’s initiativewww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

““It will be hard. But the time is now. Be bold. Be courageous. Americans are counting on you.”
— Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, at a Senate committee hearing on gun controlwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“The Second Amendment isn’t there for duck hunting. It’s there to protect us from tyrannical government and street thugs.”
— Texas radio talk-show host Alex Jones, to British-born cable talk-show host Piers Morgan, an outspoken gun control advocate

“All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington.”
— President Barack Obama, flanked by Newtown, Conn., families, on the Senate defeat of a compromise on background checks for gun saleswww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“This is a historic moment to be seized and to be cherished.”
— Colorado State Rep. Pete Lee, on state lawmakers legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples

“Marijuana purchased in Colorado must stay in Colorado.”
— State Rep. Dan Pabon, D-Denver, offering a way to cut trafficking by “pot tourists” drawn by Colorado’s marijuana legalization for personal use

“When I see someone swerve, I no longer think, ‘Hey, look at that drunk guy.’ I think, ‘He’s texting.’”
— State Rep. Eddie Lucio III, D-Harlingen, in a House hearing on a bill to outlaw texting while drivingwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“The key to dissuading drivers from texting while driving is information and education, not government micromanagement.”
— Statement from the office of Gov. Rick Perrywww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

Now it’s time to say goodbye … :( RIP.”
— Tweet from pop singer Joey Fatone, after the death of beloved former Mouseketeer and film star Annette Funicello

“I figured North Korea had just bombed us.”
— West resident John Hutchins, describing the devastating blast and mushroom cloud from the nearby fertilizer plantwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

They went in there to save lives, and that’s what they did. A few of them lost their lives in doing so.”
— Waco police spokesman Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton, on firefighters responding to a fire at the plant before it explodedwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“We need people who so love their neighbors as themselves that they’re willing to lay down their lives down for them. America needs towns like West.”
— President Barack Obama, at a memorial service in West for the victims of the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texaswww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“This is the first time in American history that parents have seen their son’s presidential library. Mother, I promise to keep my area clean.”
— Former President George W. Bush, at the dedication of his presidential library on the Southern Methodist University campus

“I’ve been kidnapped. I’ve been missing for 10 years. I’m here. I’m free now.”
— Transcript of a 911 call for help from Amanda Berry of Cleveland, one of three kidnapped women who escaped their captorwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“I spent 11 years in hell. Now your hell is just beginning.”
— Michelle Knight, one of three women imprisoned in the Cleveland house of Ariel Castro, before he was sentenced to life plus 1,000 yearswww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“I’m alive.”
— Text message sent from Moore, Okla., sixth-grader Cameron Dycus to his father, while he was buried under the rubble of his school after a monster tornado struck

“We’ve seen bad tornadoes before. But this time, it’s babies and schools and families. It’s just different.”
— Amy Pulliam, outside an obliterated 7-Eleven in Moore where a cousin sought refuge with her 3-month-old son. The mother and child both died.

“Obviously, this is not a positive development.”
— White House spokesman Jay Carney, on asylum that Russia granted to NSA leaker Edward Snowden

“Obviously, this is not a positive development.”
— White House spokesman Jay Carney, on asylum that Russia granted to NSA leaker Edward Snowdenwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“We invite Edward Snowden to Petersburg and will be happy if he decides to join the star team of programmers at VKontakte.”
— Pavel Durov, co-founder of the St. Petersburg-based VKontakte, Russia’s answer to Facebookwww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

“We have always overperformed when it comes to money.”
— Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, on how much the team will invest in its new headquarters in Frisco

“No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but its lowest ones.”
“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”
—From Nelson Mandela’s official Twitter account

“Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”
—Nelson Mandela

"Even if they call me a fake, but I am the great fake because I expose what is going on in the government and system."
— Tamsanqa Jantjie, the man accused of faking sign interpretation while standing alongside world leaders at Nelson Mandela's memorial servicewww.thinglink.comTOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.
— John F. Kennedy

A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.
— John F. Kennedy